No abstract

No abstract

Over the years, technology has become an essential part of our lives, with technological advancement presenting on-going opportunities. However, technology creates negative emotions, anxiety and fear among some people due to an established set of norms and individual behaviour patterns. Such fear, anxiety and apprehension has been described as technophobia, which constrains individuals’ ability to use technology and thus puts them at a disadvantage. The continuous emergence of new technologies has given rise to increased technophobia, which is now believed to affect a third of every population. This article examines age differences in the level of technophobia as well as the personal characteristics that positively influence it. A quantitative methodology was employed, and 384 questionnaires were distributed to participants in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The findings show that technophobia occurs within all age groups (the young, middle-aged and older). However, young adults with no formal education and employment demonstrated lower levels of technophobia than other age groups. The results also demonstrate a significant relationship between levels of technophobia and the demographic profile of respondents. The article concludes with a discussion on strategies to manage technophobia.

Computer Programming forms the basis from which most students in the IS Naidoo (1996) The results indicate that cognitive group 1 exhibited the most structural errors whilst the cognitive group 3 exhibited the least structural errors. .

This study aimed to explore the impact of cognitive ability on the understanding of computer programming by students enrolled for a programming course at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The rationale for this study is provided by the general perception held by the academic community that computer programming is a difficult faculty to master. This assertion is corroborated by reports of high failure rates in computer programming courses at tertiary institutes. A literature review was undertaken to investigate the contribution of other factors on the ability to achieve competence in computer programmer. Based on the outcome of the literature review, this study argues that cognitive ability warrants a higher priority relative to the other factors. As a strategy, cognitive science theory was consulted to establish a framework to quantify competency in computer programming. On the basis of this endeavour, two protocols were identified to facilitate the quantification process. The first was the “deep and surface” protocol used in previous studies to ascertain students’ cognitive style of understanding for computer programming. The second was an error analysis framework which was developed as part of the current study. These protocols were used as frameworks to underpin the data collection phase of the study. This study found that at least 50% of the students enrolled in a computer programming course adopt a superficial approach to the understanding of computer programming. In order to explain this phenomenon, a cognitive ability test was administered. Here it was established that at least 39% of these students have not reached a level of cognitive development that will enable the invocation of abstract thought. The study also found that this inability to handle abstractionism, an essential requirement for success in computer programming, is reflected in the severity of errors made in computer programming assessment tasks.